UW CSE News

Western Washington University has placed its Computer Science Department on the chopping block in a budget reduction effort.

This move seems particularly goofy – even by the standards of education policy in Washington State – given the extreme demand for computer science graduates regionally and nationally, the fine record of WWU’s program, the fact that major programs such as those at the University of Washington, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon are reporting all-time-record student interest, and reports that newly-minted University of Washington graduates are receiving salary offers north of $100K and signing bonuses as high as $30K. You’ve gotta wonder what programs WWU’s leadership is choosing to preserve while threatening to axe Computer Science. “What will they think of next?”

The 1,000 attendees at yesterday’s “State of Technology” luncheon in downtown Seattle – which included the Governor, her Secretary of Commerce, and Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra – were dazed and amazed when Technology Alliance Chair Jeremy Jaech read the GeekWire headline from the stage.

Update: We received a “form email” response from WWU’s VP for University Relations. It’s a full page of administrative gibberish. Or, as our Webmaster said, “Must … Take … Shower …” We recommend not bothering with it, but if you need late-night entertainment, it’s here.